


Stormy Scales

by DarkAlchemistNinja, LadyYasaman



Category: Free!
Genre: I'll tag more as i think of it, M/M, Rating may go up later., Romance, Will add more characters/relationships as they appear, merman au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-12
Updated: 2015-05-27
Packaged: 2018-03-30 06:39:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 8,701
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3926629
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkAlchemistNinja/pseuds/DarkAlchemistNinja, https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyYasaman/pseuds/LadyYasaman
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rin goes swimming and gets caught in a storm. Instead of drowning, He's rescued by the most unlikely person. Will his rescuer be his one true love?</p><p>I've gotten a few comments that this fic is quite similar to Arms of the Ocean. I am aware of this fact. This fic is based on a rp that was inspired by Arms of the Ocean. My rp partner/Co-Author for this fic has NOT read Arms of the Ocean. (there is a link to that fic out of respect and tribute to the person who inspired it before the first chapter of this fic.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Rescued?

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Arms of the Ocean](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/117079) by FearTheKeira. 

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rin finds himself in a dangerous situation.

It was towards noon in early July. For the moment the sky was clear, but that could change at any given time. It was rather warm and Rin Matsuoka was on the beach, stretching out a bit before heading out into the water to go for a swim.

He stashed his bag that held his clothes between some rocks on the beach above the tide-line, and waded into the water. He struck out towards an island he knew was close by, but not terribly close so as to actually challenge himself. He planned to swim there and back by sunset.

What he didn't expect, however, was as he got about to the halfway mark; the black clouds that suddenly appeared and blocked out the sun. He stopped swimming and gazed up at them, swearing and realizing that there was no way he'd be able to get to either back to his original starting point or to the island he was aiming for before the storm hit. 

Wind began to whip the waves into a frothy mess around him and started to toss him about in the surf. He tried to swim but was swiftly disoriented as to which direction he was going due to the waves getting higher and higher and plunging him underwater; barely giving him time to breathe before the next one slammed him.

Rin was getting tired. He was floundering and sputtering. He knew that he should try to swim for it, but at the moment he was making more of a mess out of things by flailing like someone who didn't know how to swim at all. He realized his actions could attract sharks... he was sending out distress signals that were more than a little obvious.

Finally he was too tired to swim anymore, he struggled to stay afloat at least, but a wave slammed him down at the moment he was taking a breath and he breathed in nothing but seawater. His world went black; his last thought was; _Well Dad, guess I'm coming to you early... To think... we sorta went the same... way... in the... ocean..._

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Below him, there was a flash of silver scales as a young merman, perhaps a year or so younger; if that, passed by the scene. He could sense the distress; he could also sense that it was attracting something else. He rolled over onto his back as he swam and gazed up to the surface a few fathoms above him. 

Was that... a human? Alone out in a monsoon? His first instinct was to go to the floundering human, but he hesitated. It was forbidden to contact them. He'd be in trouble if he were caught. He bit his lip a bit, dithering as he tried to decide what to do. 

The merman had a tail of silver that matched his hair, he had a smattering of scales across his face that would almost resemble freckles, a small black mark on his right cheek, and his chest and arms had that little pattern of silver scales as well. He wore a necklace shell whistle and carried a small shell knife in a kelp belt around his waist for protection. 

He watched as the red-headed human flailed in the surf, and knew that eventually he would attract sharks. He swam closer, obviously in a silent battle with himself whether or not to rescue the human. He wasn't heartless, and the human was in trouble.. but at the same time it was treason to be seen... perhaps... maybe he could do it without being seen.

As he was trying to decide, the sharks showed up, circling the human floundering in the surf. The merman made his decision. He blew on the whistle, a piercing noise that stunned the sharks for a moment as he saw the human go limp, having gotten too tired and inhaled too much water. 

He swam over and snagged the human's limp wrist in his own; his slender hand barely fitting around it, but he managed, tugging the human down through the water. He knew of a nearby cave that could shield them from the sharks. Unfortunately one of them recovered enough from the noise to bite down on the humans' lower appendage.

The merman sensed only blood suddenly in the water, not realizing where it came from. He tugged the human through the cave opening and up into the cave. The sharks were too big to enter. He surfaced, pulling the human up with him. He was limp, not breathing.

The merman tugged him to the small shelf that resembled an underwater beach. The cave itself was a 'bubble cave'. the only way in or out of it was a five minute dive under the water, but there was air vents from spires that created a bubble of air inside the cave; there was a small rocky plateau and a bit of a sand bar. 

The merman heaved the human onto the sand as best he could and pressed down on his diaphragm, trying to get him to expell the water he'd inhaled. after doing this for a few moments, satisfied that the human was now breathing after coughing out a surprising amount of water and remaining unconscious; he dove for some nearby kelp growing just outside the cave. 

He returned and examined the wound left by the shark. It was huge and rather ugly, but the merman decided to cover it and try to stop the bleeding. He bandaged the wound with the kelp, then dove off the sand bar, hiding behind a rock and peering out, waiting for the human to wake up, and wondering what on earth he was doing... and noticing that the human was... well... kinda cute. 

Rin began to stir, pain heavy in his chest and throat due to all the water that had been in them. "I'm alive?" he coughed out hoarsely, spitting out some water. He didn't even think about trying ot sit up at that moment. He was in too much pain. He just stared up at the seemingly endless ceiling. 

The realization he was alive was surprising... The last thing he'd remembered was - He heard the distant rumble of thunder. Yeah... the monsoon... the storm. Where the hell was he? And how had he gotten there?


	2. I'm Alive?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rin does human things, his rescuer fights an inner battle... will he reveal himself?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think this chapter is fairly decent in length...

After a little while of laying there breathing and making sure he was actually alive (aka pinching himself) he moved to sit up slowly and gaze around a bit. He was in a cave, that much was clear... there was fresh air and he could vaguely hear the sounds of the storm.

It was surprisingly bright in the cave, he could see glowing algae was the source of that as he looked around at the walls. The cave didn't seem terribly large; a small sand bar, a plateau of rock and then the water. There didn't seem to be any other ways out besides the one he assumed he'd came in by... and underwater cave opening. 

He glanced at his foot, finally noticing the dull ache. There was a bit of a blood trickle from the wrap, but the fact that it was wrapped; and looked like it was deliberate and not just his leg catching on some kelp... well that told him someone had saved his ass and brought him here. But who or what could have done it? 

"Hello?" he called out, his voice echoing in the cave. He winced as his head throbbed a bit; a headache from the near-drowning state he was still pretty much in. He coughed a bit and spat out the seawater that came up. "Listen, If you're here..." he said, his voice quieter. "Thank you for saving me... I promise i won't hurt you if you come out." 

The merman continued to watch as the human called to him a few more times before sighing and laying back down. He remained vigilant as the human seemed to fall asleep, exhaustion from his experience taking it's toll. 

Rins' rescuer finally dove down and left the cave, swimming to gather some food for the human and perhaps a blanket to keep him warm. It could get chilly in the cave. He caught a few shellfish and bashed them open, putting them into a larger shell he'd found empty. He caught some shrimp and killed them, along with a few small fish. 

He grabbed a spare kelp woven blanket from his own home in a seperate, but relatively nearby bubble cave and returned to the sleeping human, casting the kelp blanket over him like a net and leaving the offering of food within the humans' reach before going back to his own cave and floating near the surface to get some rest of his own. 

His mind was racing. He'd just saved a human's life... and now he was harboring him and keeping him alive... that was more than a nono... that could be considered treason, especially if he revealed himself. For the moment the human had not seen him... but he knew that something or someone had saved him. 

And the Merman was half-inclined to introduce himself... despite the fact that he shouldn't. Ah well, that was a dilemma for the morning. His last thought as he drifted to sleep in the waves was the human's voice in his head. _"Thank you for saving me."_

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rin woke up halfway through the night, his throat parched and dry, his lips chapped and his stomach growling. he was in minimal pain, thanks to whatever the hell had been put on his injury. He thanked god for that at least. It was then that he realized there was something on top of him. 

He opened his eyes. He saw the kelp net and blinked. Well that would explain why he wasn't freezing. The kelp net/blanket that was on top of him was actually quite warm and comfortable. His eyes gazed around and he saw the shell filled with, well, what else? Seafood. He reached for it, gazing at the shellfish and the raw bits of other fish.

Normally he preferred his seafood cooked, unless he was at a well reputed sushi bar, but hey, it was food and he was starving. Rin sat up and grabbed the large shell full of food offerings. He picked up a scallop and examined it. It was clearly quite fresh, nice and cool due to the temperature of the cave; which was, admittedly, pretty damn cold. 

He popped it in his mouth and it pretty much exploded with sweet flavors and a mild saltwater aftertaste. He picked through the large shell to find all of the scallops; after discovering he actually liked them. Once those were gone he poked at some of the other seafood that had been brought. 

A few sardines, a small slice of tuna, a few other smaller shellfish, some shrimp... He was still hungry; a few scallops weren't going to do it for him, so he bolted down the shellfish and shrimp first; whoever had left them had made it easy for him to eat them. He then picked up a sardine and was surprised to see it had been gutted and deboned. 

"huh... guess my savior doesn't like bones in their food either." he muttered as he shrugged and nibbled at the fish. Pretty soon the fish was gone and he lay back, licking his lips and wishing really hard that he had some decent water. He gazed around the rock face behind him; unfortunately it was tilted and any rainwater that fell just ran into the ocean. He noticed a dripping however and dumped out the seawater in the large shell his food had been in. 

He placed it under the dripping water and waited for a few moments. The storm was still raging so it was a steady drip, almost a stream of water coming down from above. Soon he had a little bit, enough to wet his throat at least, and grabbed the shell. He sipped at it. It was definetly freshwater. He bolted it down and felt at least like he wasn't constantly sucking on a salt lick.

Suddenly tired again, Rin lay back down, pulled the kelp blanket back over himself and closed his eyes, leaving the shell to collect what other little bit of rainwater it could. He was soon asleep again, breathing even and deep and now even more curious about his rescuer. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As morning came the merman woke up and immediately the events of the night before washed over him. He shifted his tail so he was upight in the water and moaned softly. "What am i going to do?" he aked of a crab on his private beach in his cave. The crab ignored him, continuing to dig at the sand. "you're right..." the young merman sighed as if the crab had said something profound. "I saved him, so he's my responsibility." 

He pounded his fist into his hand. "I'll go see if he survived the night." He dove and grabbed another shell, filling it with food for his own breakfast as he swam the short distance to the other bubble cave where he'd left the human. He munched up a shrimp and two small fish before he got there, filling the bowl with some scallops and other harder shellfish which he bashed against a sharp hard rock to open them before he entered the other cave. 

He slowly swam up through the entrance of the cave and peeped his head up from a hidden point behind two large rocks where he could see the human. It appeared he'd woken up in the night because the food was gone and the shell he'd left full of food had been moved and was now full of water behind him. 

He stay there watching for a while, silently eating a few of the shellfish but leaving most of it for the human. He figured since he'd eaten all that he could still be hungry when he woke again. The merman's reason to keep the human fed was an internal fear that the human might see him as food if he presented himself. All superstition really, finfolk tales told around hot water vents to scare young merfolk from contacting humans. But one could never be too careful.

The young merman slowly swam out of his hiding place and placed the shell on the sand where the other had been the night before, then went back and hid again, waiting for the human to wake up. 

He didn't have long to wait; Rin began to stir shortly and let out a soft noise. He was thirsty again, and despite the generous portion of food he'd had at who knew what time, he was hungry again. He sat up and carefully folded the kelp blanket and set it aside. He didn't want to ruin it... he didn't know if it was a gift or a loan. 

He looked over and saw another shell full of food. This time mostly scallops. He glanced behind him and saw the other shell sufficiantly full of fresh rainwater. He nodded in satisfaction. He reached for the shell. He heard a soft splash near two rocks and had the uncanny feeling all of a sudden that he was being watched. 

"Hey uh, whoever you are... whatever you are... I really appreciate you giving me food and this blanket... and fixing my leg." speaking of which, it was starting to throb again. 

The merman bit his lip. He needed to change that bandage... which would mean... he'd have to reveal himself to the human. He sighed and resigned himself to his fate, diving under the water and out of the cave to go fetch some kelp and other healing compounds that would help his own secret healing weapon.

Rin heard a sigh and a splash and no longer felt the sensation of eyes on him. He blinked. "was it something i said?" he asked no one. He shruggeed and grabbed a scallop, eating it and reaching for the shell with the fresh water, taking a sip; not wanting to drink too much of it; the storm was over and well... he had to make that water last. 

The merboy returned with a small sachel of kelp and supplies for the humans' injury. He surfaced behind the rocks and looked at him. He was so intriguing... so pretty... so exotic. His eyes matched his hair and he had some sort of black skin on his upper legs and torso. He tried to tell himself it was soley for keeping that wound clean that he was about to reveal himself... but it was a lie. 

Rin sensed the presence again but said nothing, focusing on eating and drinking little bits at a time, and trying to ignore the growing pain in his leg. Suddenly a noise rang out. A soft noise, like the clearing of someone's throat. Rin paused. "Hello?" he said. Surprisingly, he got a reply this time. 

"If i come out, you have to promise me you won't try to eat me or something, alright?" came a rather melodic and beautiful soft tenor voice in flawless Japanese. The voice reminded Rin of sweet bells chiming. 

Rin nearly dropped his shell of food in shock. The voice had sounded... human. That was impossible! Desperate to ease his now unbearable curiosity he responded. "I promise I won't hurt you." he said, attempting to keep his voice gentle. "You saved me, right? If I tried to harm you after all you've done for me, that'd be rather rude." 

The merman bit his lip. He had to do this. He had to save this human. He didn't know why, didn't know what was making him do it... but he was the only one who could... probably the only one who would. 

"Alright.. I'm coming out." He dove under the water, under the rocks and prepared to surface. 

Rin held his breath as he heard a splash. He watched the water, his heart pounding. What would his savior look like?


	3. Aiichirou

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rin copes with a new reality

The young merman surfaced about two feet away from Rin, rearing out of the water up to his shoulders. He had short silver hair, beautiful aquamarine eyes, a smattering of silver scales dotted his face and shoulders like shiny and adorable freckles. He had a small mole near his right eye. For all the world what Rin could see at the moment, his rescuer appeared human, aside from the scales. 

Trying to calm his pounding heart, Rin took a few deep breaths. His rescuer was fucking adorable, and he was at least humanoid. Rin wondered what the rest of him looked like but he wouldn't press the issue just yet. "Hi." he said softly with a smile. "You saved my life... I'm glad you decided to show yourself. My name is Rin Matsuoka." 

The silverette remained silent, looking at Rin, really looking at him for a few moments. The human had amazing muscles, his voice was like hearing a sweet mild whale song tht he could actually understand. He swam a little closer and said softly. "Aiichirou... Aiichirou Nitori." 

Rin leaned back on his arm and gazed at the little one in the water as he got a bit closer. He gestured to the blanket, the food and his leg. "Thank you, Aiichirou." he said quietly. "I'd be dead if it weren't for you." He winced as his leg throbbed. 

Aiichirou glanced at the human. Rin. He knew he had to reveal his entire self in order to change the bandage on Rin's leg. "I'm going to beach myself now... I need to change that bandage." he said, his voice clearly nervous. He hoped Rin would hold true to his promise. 

Aiichirou swam up to the sand bar and with a powerful kick of his tail he landed neatly on the sand bar near Rin's leg, his tail coiling a bit and a bit of his fin still remained in the water. His torso was slight, but strong, the smattering of scales danced all over his skin. From the waist up he was most decidedly human. 

From the hips down though, he had a magnificent and powerful fish tail, the scales matching the dotting all over the rest of his body, and in turn, all of those seemed to match his hair. His fins, and he had a few different ones dotting the tail, were elegant and ended in an aquamarine tint to match his eyes. He wore a small green woven-kelp satchel across his body and a necklace shell whistle adorned his neck. 

Rin could do nothing but stare at first. He blinked a few times, set the shell down and rubbed his eyes (bad idea by the way, his hands were all salty.) he bit back a curse word at his burning eyes and looked at Aiichirou again. "Well I'll be damned." he said, awe in his voice. _All those years I gave Haru a hard time for believing in Merfolk.... and now I have one sitting less than a foot away from me. Either I actually did die in that storm... or I've gone a bit nutty. This can't be real!_

Aiichirou blinked at him curiously at his words, letting the human get adjusted to what he looked like before attempting any movement. "Are you alright?" he asked finally after a few moments of Rin staring at him, poleaxed. 

"Y-Yeah.. just one sec." he muttered. He reached a hand to his thigh and pinched himself. "OW!... o-Kay...I'm not dreaming... I'm not hallucinating... I'm not dead..." He muttered. He was sitting here.. with a _REAL_ Merman. Not only that, but a really ATTRACTIVE merman. He closed his eyes and then opened them, looking hard at Aiichirou. 

Aiichirou watched this ritual with confusion and curiosity. "Are you alright?" he asked him again. It hadn't occurred to him that most humans didn't even believe in merfolk anymore.

"y-yeah... fine." Rin responded shakily. "Just shocked to find out a mythical creature saved my life." he admitted. He couldn't take his eyes off of his silver-haired rescuer. He bit his lip and forced himself to look away. 

The silverette blinked. "you mean humans don't think Merfolk exist?" he asked in surprise. He'd always been told that humans hunted his kind. That was something he wasn't expecting to hear. 

"Most of us don't." responded Rin. "but hell.. here you are, real as I am." He shook his head in amazement. "Don't worry. Your secret is safe with me... I promise I'm not going to exploit you or anything. I wont' hurt you, Hell, i won't even tell anyone about you." _Aside from MAYBE Haru._

Aiichirou nodded, a soft smile on his face as he decided that maybe this human wasn't bad... maybe not all humans were horrible creatures. Saving Rin had been a good thing. "Alright. So this might hurt a bit, But i'm going to tend to your wound." he said, his voice sounding a bit amused. 

Rin nodded and lay back on the sand. Aiichirou began to peel layers of kelp off the rather ugly wound. Rin glanced at it and looked away. "Shit that's worse than I thought. What bit me?" 

"Shark." said Aiichirou, a bit distracted, trying to move slowly to minimize pain. Rin hissed as pain shot through him, but didn't flinch away or move, just letting Aiichirou work. 

The silverette cleaned the wound, flushing it with a bit of salt water; ignoring Rin's loud expletives at that action and pressed a soothing mix of sea herbs and ground up bits of other healing extracts onto the wound to ease the pain and help with healing. He then took out strips of kelp, licking them as he bound them around the wound. 

At that point Rin was watching him again; having recovered from his momentary flash of swear-worthy pain and tilted his head. "hey uh, Aii? what... I mean why are you... the kelp?" he asked tentatively. 

Aiichirou paused at the appliance of a nickname from the human... but focused on the question. "why am I licking it?" he said, finishing Rin's broken sentence for him. 

"yeah..."

"My saliva has healing properties... it also purifies the kelp in case there's any bad bacteria on it." he explained. "Don't humans have that ability?" 

Rin chuckled. "not usually that I'm aware of." he said with a smile. Aiichirou finished bandaging the wound and splashed his tail to keep it wet, deciding against slipping back into the water for the moment in favor of getting to know this human a bit better.

It might be a foolish thing to do, but considering how many rules he'd broken already, why stop now? 

It was Rin who broke the silence after a few moments. "So how long will it be before i can go home?" he asked. 

"Home?" Aiichirou blinked at him. Well of course, It wasn't like he could keep Rin here as a pet or something. The human had to go home eventually. He just hadn't thought about it. "Oh... Uh... well... your wound is still too bad to move you. It'd just start bleeding again and we'd attract sharks." 

Rin nodded. "yeah... I understand that... It's just... my friends and family will wonder what happened to me. Do you know how long? how many days?" 

Aiichirou considered for a few moments. "It depends on how fast you heal." he said after a few moments. "At least another two days or so." He didn't want to think about how he'd feel after a few more days spending time with this human, considering the fact that he already thought the redhead was cute. 

Rin glanced at the shell. He didn't have enough fresh water to last that long. 

The silverette looked at him. "don't worry, I'll keep coming back and stay with you the entire time, I'll feed you and everything, and make sure your wound is healing." he assured him.

"That's not what I'm worried about." responded Rin. 

"Huh?" 

"I need fresh water." Rin explained. 

"but there's plenty of water." said Aiichirou, pointing at the ocean, completely oblivious to the fact that humans couldn't survive on salt water. 

"Humans need non-salty water to live." Rin responded. "Fresh Water is water with no salt." 

Aiichirou looked confused. "You mean there's water without salt in it?" he said in surprise. Then he had a thought. "Oh you mean rainwater?" 

Rin chuckled. "something like that." 

Aii nodded. "I think i can help... I'll be back in a bit, alright?" he said, diving into the water and vanishing into the depths, leaving Rin to stare at the place he was, and think about what the hell he was going to do with himself trapped with this really.. Really.... REALLY attractive merman for two more days.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok i am aware of the redundancy of describing what Aii looks like twice, but in my defense, the first time was a general description, the second time was for Rin's sake. 
> 
> And sorry the chapter is so short... i am getting better about it!


	4. Questions and Mysteries

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rin and Aii get to know each other a bit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> two chapters in one day... i'm on a roll with this one.

Aiichirou returned to his own bubble cave and surfaced. he'd never actually spent much time exploring above water in his home. He beached himself on the small sand bar and looked at the rock face. There was a dip in the rocks that created a small pool. 

He dipped his hand in the water and cupped a bit of it out. He sipped at it. Aside from the salt on his hand from the ocean water he'd just come from, the water tasted like... well... nothing. It was strange to him, but that must be what Rin had meant by fresh water. 

He stared at the pool for a few moments. "well... I found some... now how do i get it to him?" he wondered out loud to no one. He dove off the sand bar and down to his collections he'd gathered over the years while exploring. 

He poked through a few shelves dug into the rock face before his face lit up. He reached for a stoppered bottle. It was empty, but it held the air inside it tightly. He grabbed it and resurfaced, beaching himself once more. 

He fiddled with the stopper for a few minutes, attempting to figure out how the thing worked, before managing to get the cork out of it. He'd found the bottle at a shipwreck. He upended the bottle. A few drops of a red liquid dripped out of it but otherwise it was empty. 

He rinsed it in the clear water, then dumped that into the ocean, then filled it with the clear water again and carefully stoppered it, setting the bottle in his kelp satchel. He hoped that this was what the human needed.

He grabbed another spare shell and began filling it with scallops, having noticed that Rin seemed to eat them first; he guessed he liked them the best. Luckily there was no shortage of them. He bashed them open and headed back to the cave that Rin was in. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rin had lain back on the sand and pondered Aiichirou's appearance. After the general internal fight with his disbelief that it was a fever dream and in reality he was laying there dying and dreaming of merpeople, he decided to make the most of this. 

He had a clear mental image of Aiichirou draped across the sand. His fins were beautiful; they reminded him of something. What was it? He'd seen such types of fin before. After five minutes of wracking his brain about it he snapped his fingers. 

"That's it! His tail reminds me of a crown-tail Betta!" he said decisively to a nearby horseshoe crab that had crawled up behind him. The thing buried itself in the sand at the sudden noise. Aii's tail was flowing and beautiful, but the way it changed colors at the tips and was pointed in some places like a fanning crown... "I'll have to ask him." he muttered. 

He sighed, wondering what exactly the merman was up to. He sipped a bit at the water he'd collected and looked around. The cave he was in was pretty beautiful. stalagmites and stalactites everywhere, crystal shimmering in the walls and above him. 

Upon examining the sand a bit he noticed it too had a shimmer to it. "heh... crystal sand..." he smiled. He rolled on his side and groaned. "oh man there's sand in my suit..." he muttered. Not that his suit was worth shit anymore. that shark bite had shredded the right bottom bit of his expensive suit. He'd have to get a new one. 

However the sand inside it was not really a pleasant feeling. He sighed and tried to ignore it, watching the horseshoe crab wander around digging in the sand and pausing, eating whatever it found and then moving on to dig some more. It wasn't much, but it was a decent distraction from letting himself go insane with boredom. 

Finally there was a splash and Aiichirou surfaced, panting a bit. Rin made a note to ask Aiichirou about how he breathed and exactly how the merman planned to get him out of this cave when it was possible, but that could come later. 

"Aii, welcome back." he said, shifting and sitting up. Aiichirou smiled; realizing he actually liked the pet name Rin had given him. 

He beached himself and pulled the bottle out of his satchel, offering it to Rin. "i think this is fresh water." he said. "I mean, i tasted it and it didn't taste salty so..." 

Rin took it and unstoppered it. It was a wine bottle. He sipped at it and smiled. "yeah. that's fine." he said. "thanks. Us humans can only go three days without fresh water at most or we die. So this is a really good thing." he explained. 

Aiichirou blushed at the praise, stroking one of his fins. "I uh, got you some more scallops too." he said with a smile, offering him the shell full of them. "I noticed you eat them first so i figured you liked them." 

The redhead chuckled and took the shell full of scallops. "you're quite observant." he said with a nod. "yeah... i really do like them. Here.. you should take these back.. no sense having them around when there's nothing to do with them." he said, offering the previous food 'bowls' back to Aii. 

The merman smiled and took the shells, placing them in his satchel to take back home and use again later. 

Rin popped a scallop in his mouth. "say Aii, can i ask you something?" 

He tilted his head. "Sure." he said, though he was a bit nervous. 

"That tail of yours... I assume different families of Merfolk have different styles... Do the personalities and such of the people with different tails match the type of tail?" 

The question was confusing, but Aiichirou thought he understood. "you mean do our tails reflect the way we live? like clans and such? Yeah sorta." he said. "I'm of the Betta clan. The females like to flock together but the males tend to stay alone." 

Rin nodded. "do different types of Betta have different clans too?" he asked. 

Caught off-guard, Aiichirou flushed. "not really... though the Crown-tails tend to be considered special I guess." a lie. The silverette was a loner, yes. But he was also considered a Prince. However since he'd expressed no interest in mating with a female, the Crown-tail clan had pretty much shunned him. 

Rin finished off the scallops and smiled at Aiichirou. "Alright, now you can ask me a question." he said. "It's sort-of a trade off. You give me an answer, and i give you one. It's only fair." he said. 

Aiichirou nodded, eager to get off the subject of his people for the moment. He reached out and poked at Rin's swimsuit. "what's this black stuff?" he asked. "it's like skin, right?"

The redhead laughed. "Nah. It's called a swimsuit. It's fabric... uh... tightly woven fiber, like that kelp blanket you gave me." he explained. "Humans wear fabric to cover parts of their bodies." 

"why?" 

Rin paused. That was a good damn question. He was silent for a bit, trying to figure out how exactly to explain clothing to someone who'd never really even heard of the concept of it. 

"well... On land, it's considered indecent or rude to have certain parts of the human body exposed." he began. "so we wear clothing made of fabric. It's not always this tight. What i'm wearing is mostly for swimming. We have other clothes for other occasions." 

Aiichirou looked puzzled. "that's strange." he said. "being human must be complicated." Not that being a Mer was any picnic at times. 

Rin laughed at that. "yeah it can be." he admitted. "Clothing is strangely not the complicated part though." he shook his head. "alright. My turn. Can you breathe underwater?"

The silverette blushed. "no. I have to breathe air like any mammal." he said. "I have a pretty good lung capacity, i can hold my breath for an hour and a half, but i do need to breathe air." he splashed water on his tail. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After a few more hours of trading questions, Aiichirou noticed it was beginning to get a bit darker and the algae was beginning to glow. "oh... we've been talking all day." he said quietly. He'd learned a lot about Rin, and had somehow managed to keep most of his own secrets, well... secret. 

Rin leaned back on the sand and grabbed the blanket. "yeah, I'm sorta tired." he admitted. He pulled the blanket over him and smiled tiredly at his new friend. 

"i should go. I'll let you sleep." Aiichirou dove into the water and waved to Rin before disappearing. 

Rin closed his eyes. As mysterious as the merman still was to him... he found himself falling deep into those aquamarine eyes and not wanting to come out. He actually realized he was dreading going home. He would have to say goodbye... Unless there was some way to see him again...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Aiichirou lay on his back looking up at the celing of his bubble cave. The more he learned about Rin, the more he liked him. He couldn't' deny it... he was in love with the human. He knew that Rin would have to go back to his own kind... 

It broke his heart. He sniffled, a few tears falling down his face as he drifted off to sleep. In just a few days... he'd have to bring Rin home to his people... and once again he'd be alone.


	5. Star-crossed?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> angst, angst and more angst.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> really short chapter today. sorry about that.

The next morning he brought Rin more food. He was unaware that He was being watched from a distance by one of his own kind, who sensed something was amiss and followed Aiichirou as he went to see Rin. 

The moment the other merman saw Aiichirou beach himself and hand Rin the food he swam off to report to the Elders. 

Oblivious to the fact that he was now in more trouble than he could probably fathom, he smiled at Rin, who was chowing down on the scallops Aiichirou had brought him. "I'm glad you like these." he said with a smile. "they're my favorite too." 

Rin smiled back at him. He glanced at his leg and at his torn swimsuit. "say uh... do you have anything sharp i could use?" he asked. "i want to cut a few strips of my swimsuit." 

They were both avoiding talking about the fact that Rin would soon have to go home. Neither of them wanted to bring it up, so Aiichirou nodded. "yeah i can bring you a shell to do that." he said. "but first, let me change that bandage." 

He started peeling away the kelp and cleaned the wound, making Rin hiss as he examined it. It was healing better than Aii had expected. As he re-bandaged the wound he sighed. Might as well get it over with. "With the rate it's healing, I can probably bring you home tomorrow." he said softly, his voice sounding sad. 

Rin caught the tone and reached out instinctively, not wanting the poor merman to feel bad. He gently ran a finger down Aii's cheek, cupping his chin in his hand. "Don't sound like that..." he said softly. 

Aiichirou instinctively leaned into it before remembering himself and pulling away, blushing madly and biting his lip. "Sorry, I've just grown to like you-re company." he said, realizing what he was about to say and fixing it. "I'm normally all alone."

Rin blinked. "I'm liking your company too." he admitted, a flush dusting his cheeks. "but I need to see a doctor, and It's not like i can live here the rest of my life... and i have friends and family who are probably really worried about me by now."

"I know..." Aiichirou sighed. "Rin... here." he said suddenly. he took off his necklace whistle and handed it to Rin. "If you blow on this, no matter where i am i should be able to hear it." he said with a soft but yet still sad smile. They could never be together. It broke his heart. 

"i'll go get you that shell knife now." he said softly as he dove into the water, not wanting to let Rin see him cry. 

Rin watched him go and sighed, biting his lip. As much as he wanted to be with Aii, there was no way. "Of course i have to go and fall in love with someone i can never truly be with." he said softly, shaking his head.


	6. Taken!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Will Rin be left high and dry with no way to get home? (i'm beginning to realize i suck at chapter summaries eheh... and also i suck at long chapters...)

Aiichirou searched the bottom of the cave, but found nothing in the regards of something sharp enough to cut through what he could see was most likely a rather tough weave of strong fibers. He remembered he had an actual knife in his own cave and exited the cave that Rin was in.

Immediately strong hands grasped both of his arms and he jerked, sending a bubble squeak up as he struggled, more in surprise than anything else. He calmed after a moment, catching a flash of gold and froze. These mermen were guards sent by the Council of Elders. 

They released one of his arms as he calmed and signaled to them he wasn't going to run. A small device was shoved into his hand. He gazed at it. It was a breather. Aiichirou had had one once, but he'd lost it long ago. These things were expensive, and were mostly used when Merfolk were going to be spending more than their lung capacity underwater. 

The device was both simple and complex. It had a piece that fit in the roof of the mouth, and two pieces that covered the nostrils to allow you to breath through the nose. How it worked was a mystery; only the Folk that made them could actually explain it. He put it on and looked at them, taking an experimental breath. 

"Aiichirou Nitori." Said one of them. "You are to be brought to the Council of Elders on counts of Treason. Will you come quietly or do we have to drag you?" They both wore the same breathing apparatus that they had given Aii. 

He glanced back to the cave opening. _Sorry, Rin..._ he thought. _Forgive me._ To the guards he held his head high and said softly. "I will go without a fight." 

he was escorted several fathoms down a few miles away from his home and the cave where he'd left Rin. Inwardly he was crying, but outwardly he was calm. He knew this wouldn't be pleasant... but he would face the Council and be strong. He had no regrets about what he had done. 

He was guided to a cave and secured by his hands and lower fin to a post, with the guards leaving him. A young merman, the only other Folk there, an errand boy for the Elders, stayed to the side as Aii was secured and left to wait for the Elders to swim to their seats. 

The intern had very dark brown hair, teal eyes and a very serious expression. His tail was a mix of brown and teal and he watched Aiichirou with a sad and yet slightly annoyed expression on his face. He said nothing as the Elders began to swim through the opening from their back room. 

Aiichirou turned his attention to the Elders as they came forward. There were five. The Elder of the Lion-fish clan; Elder Chiyo, The Elder of the Orca clan; Elder Tachi, The Elder of the Mackerel clan; Elder Maru, The Elder of the Dolphin clan; Elder Hasine and lastly, looking quite stern, as if trying to hide his emotions, the Elder of the Betta clan... Aiichirou's grandfather; Elder Toru.

Aiichirou hung his head. The look on his grandfather's face was enough to make him at least doubt his choices. For a moment. Then he remembered Rin's smiling face, his kind words, the gentle touch to his face... and his resolve returned. He held his head up high and faced the Elders, not struggling to get away, no. He'd take whatever punishment they would give him. 

Elder Chiyo swam forward. "Aiichirou Nitori, Prince of the Betta Clan... You have been brought here today accused of the crime of fraternizing with a human. Do you deny this charge?" 

Aiichirou looked her straight in the eye. "no Ma'am." he said calmly. 

She looked at him and shook her head. She went to sit. 

Elder Toru swam forward. "Aiichirou... By your rank alone you are allowed to explain yourself. Choose your words carefully, young Prince, for what you say determines your fate."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rin was getting worried. It shouldn't take this long to go find a sharp object... should it? He had no watch, so he had no idea how long it had been, but it seemed like a long time. 

In reality it had thus far been a few hours... Rin had no idea that it would still be quite a while before Aiichirou would return. 

Out of boredom Rin started playing in the crystal sand, building a rather clumsy sand castle, destroying it, then building a new one. Soon he figured out some logistics and was focused on a rather elaborate castle that was shaping up nicely. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Aiichirou looked at the Council and sighed. "Elders, A few days ago during the monsoon I was swimming well below the waves when I noticed a gathering of the Fanged Ones." he began. "I looked up to see a single human being thrown about by the waves. I hesitated, remembering our laws, but my compassion got the better of me." 

"I saved him and brought him to a small bubble cave nearby, and tended his wound. I kept myself out of sight at first, but then it became clear to me that in order to keep his wound properly bound i would have to reveal myself." 

"Once I revealed myself to him I realized that he meant me no harm. Humans do not generally believe we exist... he swore he would not tell anyone about me in return for my saving his life. I was going to bring him home tomorrow. This i swear to you is the truth." 

There was silence for a bit. Then Toru sighed. "And your Token?" he asked quietly. 

Aiichirou froze. The whistle around his neck... It was something all Merfolk had at one point. When a Mer reached maturity, a Token was created, a whistle that would call to that specific Mer and no one else. When a Mer fell in love with someone, they exchanged Tokens. Being human, Rin didn't have a Token. 

There was a heavy silence before Aiichirou gathered his courage and said quietly. "I gave it to the human." 

Toru looked at Aiichirou for a long moment. "Then you are in love with him?" 

"... Yes..." responded Aiichiriou softly.

"And this human... Does he feel the same?" 

"I... I am not sure, but I believe so." 

Muttering broke out amongst the elders. Toru shook his head and swam back to them. They spoke in whispers for a while before Chiyo swam forward. 

"Prince Aiichirou... Are you ready to hear the punishment for your crimes that has been decided upon by the Council?" she asked. 

Aiichirou noticed his grandfather looked decidedly morose and feared the worse. He gulped. "Y-Yes Ma'am." he whispered softly. 

"Saving a human is not forbidden." She said to him. "So long as the rescuer does not reveal themselves." She looked at the others. "However, Revealing oneself to a human voluntarily is against our laws. Befriending a human is against our laws... Falling in love with one... is completely forbidden." 

Aiichioru nodded, biting his lip. His heart was pounding. He didn't realize that the Intern had swum closer to him. 

Chiyo continued to speak. "As punishment for the summation of your crimes... you will be executed by the Fanged Ones."


	7. Saved, but at what price?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An unusual intervention...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was only gonna be part of a chapter, and then i said fuck it and just wanted it posted so yeah, it's another short one. sorry.

Aiichirou's heart sank. His head fell and drooped, his entire body sagged on the post. _Death.. They're going to kill me... Rin will die without help... I saved him only for him to starve to death..._ Of course his only thoughts were of Rin, not his own safety. 

"I beg your pardon, Elder Chiyo, the rest of the Council... May I please speak?" came a sudden low tenor voice. 

Aiichirou jerked in surprise, the voice came right from his left. The council glanced over at the speaker; the Intern. "Intern Sousuke, What have you to say on this matter?" asked Toru in surprise. 

"I know our laws well, and there is another way. Do you not remember, Elder Tachi, what was done previously?" He asked courteously of the Orca Elder. 

There was silence for a good three minutes. Finally a nod and Sousuke continued. "Why shed blood when you could just banish him?" he said quietly. "beyond our waters, where the humans fish freely, he would most likely get snagged in a net and die anyway, that way the blood would not be on the Councils' scales." 

The Elders gazed at one another. Hope flared in Aiichirou's breast and he raised his head a bit, biting his lip. 

The Elders had another discussion and it was Toru who this time came forward to speak. "Aiichirou Nitori... You are henceforth stripped of your royal titles, You have three days to gather your things, and your human, and leave our jurisdiction. Never to return." he said. 

With that the council turned and swam off, Toru not even giving his grandson a backward glance. Aiichioru sagged in relief as the two guards and Sousuke undid his binds. He bowed to his savior. 

"You have my gratitude." he whispered softly. 

Sosuke shrugged. "It's not your gratitude i want." he said softly. "No one deserves to be torn apart by the Fanged Ones. Now go." He pressed another breathing device into Aiichirou's hand. 

Aiichirou swam off, leaving behind the Council, his family... everything. To be honest he didn't care that he was banished... he didn't care because he was used to being alone. He'd simply have to relocate his home... perhaps to the lagoon. 

Sousuke watched him go. _Go, be with your human... be happy, Aii_ he thought. He was almost jealous, despite the fact that Aiichirou's freedom had been his idea.

The trial had taken at least a day and a half. He was sure Rin was starving and probably worried. He grabbed a large shell and started collecting scallops as he swam, moving fast but not so fast that he couldn't get food for the both of them. 

_Tomorrow._ he thought. Tomorrow we'll both be free... Rin to his own kind... and me... to ... be alone once more... He grabbed a very sharp shell and stowed it in his kelp bag with the spare breathing device. 

He stopped at his former home to gather what little things he'd need, his own kelp blanket, a few trinkets; not much honestly. then he left what he had called home forever and made his way to the cave where Rin was. 

He surfaced in the bubble cave with enough scallops to feed the both of them for at least the next twelve hours. It was about midnight the day after Aiichirou had been taken and he removed the breathing device, stowing it in his bag. 

Rin was sleeping. he beached himself and noticed the few sand castles that Rin had made. He had to smile, watching Rin sleep peacefully, clutching the shell Token and looking so beautiful. Aiichirou was determined to keep in touch with Rin even after returning him to his people. 

He gazed at the poultice on the wound and realized it was long overdue to be changed. He went to work, setting aside the shell full of scallops and peeling off the strips of kelp.

Rin woke up as pain shot through him. "eh? ow... oh!" he sat up, tossing the blanket off him. "Aiichirou! where have you been? I was beginning to think you weren't going to come back!" 

Aiichirou flushed the wound and heard Rin bite back a curse word, which made him bite his lip. He sighed. "I almost couldn't." he said quietly. He couldn't tell Rin that he'd been banished, that'd just make the redhead guilty. "I got in trouble with the Elders, It's alright now though. I'll bring you home tomorrow." 

To Rin it was clear Aii was hiding something, but he wasn't going to push it. He snagged a scallop and popped it into his mouth. "did you bring the knife?" he asked instead. 

"Yeah. And something to help get you home tomorrow." he said, offering a half-hearted smile to Rin. He dug in his satchel and produced the knife/shell. "here." he said. "will this work?"

Rin tested the edge. "yeah it should." he said, continuing to eat. 

"good. I can take you home tomorrow... so we should eat and get some sleep." said Aiichirou softly. 

The redhead set aside the food for a moment and reached out, pulling Aiichriou into a gentle embrace, hugging him close. "Don't scare me like that." he said softly. "I was so worried." 

_so was i,_ thought Aiichirou as he slowly wrapped his hands around Rin's torso to return the embrace. _... So was i._


End file.
